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“If you don’t know where you are going, how do you expect to get there?” -Basil S. Walsh

Last night, Rich Schefren called me out. He straight up embarrassed me in front of one hundred other students. I tried shrugging off what he said. I tried pretending he had no idea what he was talking about or who he was talking to. But the pit in my stomach told me that what he was telling me was true – success in this industry will continue to elude me and I am doomed to fail…

Okay, okay – Rich Schefren didn’t single me out personally. Instead, he called attention to the FACT that if you aren’t 100% clear about where you want to end up, you are destined to drift down the river of mediocrity. And, deep-down, I knew I was currently one of those people on that river.

For those of you who don’t know Rich Schefren, he is known as “the guru to the gurus” and is responsible for mentoring more online millionaires than any other person on the internet. Oh yeah, he is also the proud proprietor of an 8-figure online business. So when Rich Schefren speaks, you LISTEN – and last night, he spoke to us.

One of the (many) bonuses of being enrolled in the Alex Jeffreys’ 2.0 Coaching Program is the dynamic list of guest speakers that we are treated to. Last night, 130 fellow Alex Jeffreys students listened to Rich Schefren speak for over two hours about the “six crucial factors to online success.” The information he presented was invaluable to say the least. It’s not very often where you get to listen (for free) to a man who charges $2500 an hour to speak. But the idea that stuck out to me the most was his first topic of discussion, “business by design” and getting clear on what you REALLY want.

We all have heard the importance of setting goals and benchmarks on our “journey to success.” Many of us even write out our goals or at least have a vague sense of what we want to accomplish with our online businesses. But Rich says that a vague idea or a partial list of goals is not enough – for your online business to be truly successful, you need an established blueprint for success which requires you to map out EXACTLY what you want to accomplish with your business. In other words, you need a “business by design.”

What does that mean? We all want to make a lot of money (obviously). We all want to get to a point where we make enough money in our online businesses where we never have to worry about a J.O.B., or money, ever again. But money is really just a means to an end. So what, exactly, do you want the money FOR? Rich was adamant that you can’t just jump into your business and cross your fingers hoping for success. You need an end-game in mind. You need a clear destination. You need a plan.

And it makes sense, right? How can you possibly get to where you want to be if you don’t know where exactly it is you want to go?

This was Rich Schefren’s challenge to us. And it was a challenge I knew I needed to take up.

Like most of you, I have worked on “visualizing” a successful future. I have used the process of writing out specific goals, objectives, and benchmarks. I have read business motivation and self-help books by the score. And all this helps…for a little while. But somewhere along the line, I lose track of the “big picture.” I get so wrapped up in the day-to-day minutiae that I temporarily forget what it is I am working towards. I become so bogged down and enveloped in my to-do list without remembering the reason WHY I am working on those tasks to begin with. Or I write out goals and objectives that seem like good benchmarks without really thinking how they align with my overall (and vague) definitions of personal success. After hearing Rich speak, I realized I needed to go back to square one and “get clear.”

So this morning, I developed a quick mental exercise that would help me visualize my ideal end-game and get me back on track. The exercise took about 45 minutes to complete but was worth every second spent. I now know EXACTLY what it is I am trying to accomplish with my business. No longer do I have a vague sense of what success means to me. And though the action steps needed to arrive at my objective are still murky, I finally have a “clear” destination in mind. And with it, I have a peace of mind that has eluded me for a long, long time.

Rich Schefren called me out…and I rose to the challenge.

Check back next week as I outline the exact process I followed to finally “get clear.” I love feedback so please drop a comment if you liked (or didn’t like) this post!

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